Evan’s mother took Mary Jo’s hand in both of her own and held it firmly for several moments. “I appreciate that. Do keep in touch, won’t you?”
Mary Jo nodded. “If you wish.”
The older woman led her to the front door and walked out to the circular driveway with her. Mary Jo climbed into her car and started the engine. As she pulled away, she glanced in her rearview mirror to find Lois Dryden’s look both thoughtful and troubled.
Normally Mary Jo joined her family for their Sunday get-togethers. But not this week. Needing time and privacy to sort out her thoughts, she drove to the marina. She parked, then walked slowly to the waterfront. The wind coming off the ocean was fresh and tangy with salt. She had to think, and what better place than here, where she’d spent countless happy hours in Evan’s company?
How long she sat on the bench overlooking the water she didn’t know. Time seemed to be of little consequence. She gazed at the boats moving in and out of their narrow passageways. The day had turned cloudy, which suited her somber mood.
Standing, she walked along the pier, once again reviewing her conversation with Evan’s mother. Her steps slowed as she realized no amount of brooding would solve the problems. She needed to talk to Evan, and soon, before she lost her nerve.
She found a pay phone, plunked in a quarter and dialed his home number.
“Mary Jo. Thank goodness! Where were you?” Evan asked. “I’ve been calling your place every fifteen minutes. I have some wonderful news.”
“I…had an errand to run,” she said, not wanting to elaborate just then. He sounded terribly excited.
“What’s your good news?”
“I’ll tell you the minute I see you.”
“Do you want to meet somewhere?” she asked. “How about Rowe’s Wharf? We can take a stroll along the pier. If you want, we can visit the aquarium. I haven’t been there in years. When we’re hungry we can find a seafood restaurant and catch a bite to eat.” He paused and laughed at his own sorry joke. “No pun intended.”
“That’ll be great,” she said, finding it difficult to rouse the proper enthusiasm.
“Mary Jo?” His voice rose slightly. “What’s wrong? You sound upset.”
“We need to talk.”
“All right,” he agreed guardedly. “Do you want me to pick you up?” When she declined, he said,
“I’ll meet you there in half an hour, okay?”
“Okay.” It was ironic, Mary Jo mused, that Evan could be so happy while she felt as if her entire world was about to shatter.
When she finished speaking to Evan, Mary Jo phoned her mother and told her she wouldn’t be joining them for dinner. Marianna knew instantly that something wasn’t right, but Mary Jo promised to explain later.
From the marina she drove down Atlantic Avenue and found a suitable place to park. It had been less than twenty-four hours, and already she was starved for the sight of Evan. It seemed unthinkable to live the rest of her life without him.
He was standing on the wharf waiting for her when she arrived. His face lighted up as she approached, and he held out both hands to her.
Mary Jo experienced an immediate sense of comfort the moment their fingers touched. In another second, she was securely wrapped in his arms. He held her against him as though he didn’t intend to ever let her go. And she wished she didn’t have to leave the protective shelter of his arms.
“I’ve missed you,” he breathed against her temple.
“Lord, how I’ve missed you.” He threaded his fingers lovingly through her windblown hair.
“We spent nearly all of yesterday together,” she reminded him lightly, although she shared his feelings. Even a few hours apart left her wondering how she’d managed to survive all those years without him. How she’d ever do it again…
“I love you, Mary Jo. Don’t forget that.”
“I won’t.” Loving him as she did, she found his words an intense comfort. She buried her face in his neck and clung to him, wanting to believe with everything she possessed that there was a way for them to find happiness together.
“Now tell me your good news,” she murmured. Evan eased her out of his arms, but tucked her hand inside his elbow and pressed it there. His eyes were shining with excitement.
“Damian and I had a long talk last evening,” Evan said. “I phoned to tell him about the two of us, and he’s absolutely delighted. Jessica, too. They both send their congratulations by the way.”
“Thank them for me,” she said softly. “So come on, tell me your news.” She leaned against him as they strolled leisurely down the wharf.
“All right, all right. Damian’s been in contact with a number of key people over the past few weeks. The general consensus is that the time for me to make my move into the political arena is now.”
Mary Jo felt as though a fist had been plowed into her midsection. For a moment she remained frozen. She couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t think. She was dimly aware of Evan beside her, still talking.
“Now?” she broke in. “But I thought…you said…”
“I know it probably seems way too early to be discussing next year’s elections,” Evan went on to say, his face alive with energy. “But we’ve got some catching up to do. I won’t file for office until after the first of the year, but there’re a million things that need to be done before then.”
“What office do you intend to run for?” Her mind was awhirl with doubts and questions. The sick feeling in the pit of her stomach refused to go away. She felt both cold and feverishly hot at the same time.
“I’m running for city council. There’s nothing I’d enjoy more. And, Mary Jo,” he said with a broad grin, “I know I can make a difference in our city. I have so many ideas and I’ve got lots of time, and I don’t mind working hard.” He raised her hand to his lips and kissed the knuckles. “That’s one of the reasons I want us to be married as soon as it can be arranged. We’ll work together, side by side, the way my father and mother did when he ran for the Senate.”
“I—”
“You’ll need to quit your teaching job.”
So many objections rose up in her she didn’t know which one to address first. “Why can’t I teach?”
He looked at her as if the question surprised him. “You don’t have to work anymore, and besides, I’m going to need you. Don’t you see, sweetheart? This is just the beginning. There’s a whole new life waiting for the two of us.”
“Have you talked this over with your parents?” Mrs. Dryden must have already known, Mary Jo mused.
“Dad and I discussed it this morning, and he agrees with Damian. The timing is right. Naturally, he’d like to see me run for mayor a few years down the road, and I might, but there’s no need to get ahead of ourselves. I haven’t been elected to city council yet.”
“What did your mother have to say?”
“I don’t know if Dad’s had the chance to talk to her yet. What makes you ask?”
“I…visited her this morning,” Mary Jo admitted, studying the water. It was safer to look out over Boston Harbor than at the man she loved.
“You spent the morning with my mother?” Evan stopped. “At Whispering Willows?”
“Yes.”
His eyebrows shot straight toward his hairline. “Why would you go and visit my mother?”
Mary Jo heaved in a deep breath and held it until her chest ached. “There’s something you should know, Evan. Something I should have told you a long time ago.” She hesitated, finding it difficult to continue. When she did, her voice was low and strained. “When I broke our engagement three years ago, it wasn’t because I’d fallen in love with another man. There was never anyone else. It was all a big lie.”
She felt him stiffen. He frowned and his eyes narrowed, first with denial and then with disbelief. He shook off her hand and she walked over to the pier, waiting for him to join her.
It took him several moments.
“I’m not proud of that lie,” she told him,
“and I apologize for stooping to such cowardly methods. You deserved far better, but I wasn’t strong enough or mature enough to confront you with the truth.”
“Which was?” He was obviously making a strenuous effort to keep his voice level and dispassionate. But his fists were clenched. She could feel his anger, had anticipated it, understood it.
“Various reasons,” she confessed. “I invented another love interest because I knew you’d believe me, and…and it avoided the inevitable arguments. I couldn’t have dealt with a long-drawn-out debate.”
“That makes no sense whatsoever.” He sounded angry now, and Mary Jo couldn’t blame him. “You’d better start at the beginning,” he suggested after a long silence, gather his resolve. “What was it we would have argued about?”
“Our getting married.”
“Okay,” he said, obviously still not understanding.
“It all started the evening you took me to meet your family,” Mary Jo began. “I’d realized you were wealthy, of course, but I had no idea how prominent your family was. I was naive and inexperienced, and when your mother asked me some…pertinent questions, I realized a marriage between us wouldn’t work.”
“What kind of ‘pertinent’ questions?” The words were stiff with contained fury.
“Evan, please, it doesn’t matter.”
“The hell it doesn’t!”
Mary Jo briefly closed her eyes. “About my family and my background, and how suitable I’d be as a political wife. She stressed the importance of your marrying the right woman.”
“It appears my mother and I need to have a chat.”
“Don’t be angry, Evan. She wasn’t rude or cruel, but she brought up a few truths I hadn’t faced. Afterward, I was convinced a marriage between us would never survive. We have so little in common. Our backgrounds are nothing alike, and I was afraid that in time you’d…you’d regret having married me.”
He made a disgusted sound. “And so you made up this ridiculous lie and walked out of my life, leaving me lost and confused and so shaken it…” He paused as if he’d said more than he’d intended.
“I behaved stupidly—I know that. But I hurt, too, Evan. Don’t think it was easy on me. I suffered. Because I loved you then and I love you still.”
He sighed heavily. “I appreciate your honesty, Mary Jo, but let’s put the whole mess behind us. It doesn’t concern us anymore. We’re together now and will be for the next fifty years. That’s all that matters.”
Tears blurred Mary Jo’s eyes as she watched the airport shuttle boat cruise across Boston Harbor. The waters churned and foamed—like her emotions, she thought irrelevantly.
“It’s quite apparent, however,” Evan continued,
“that I need to have a heart-to-heart with my dear, sweet, interfering mother.”
“Evan, she isn’t the one to blame. Breaking up, lying to you—that was my bad idea. But it isn’t going to happen again.”
“I won’t let you out of my life that easily a second time.”
“I don’t plan on leaving,” she whispered. He placed his arm around her shoulder, and Mary Jo slid her own arm around his waist. For a moment they were content in the simple pleasure of being together.
“Because of that first meeting with your mother, I felt it was important to talk to her again,” Mary Jo said, wanting to explain why she’d gone to see Mrs. Dryden that morning. “She’s a wonderful woman, Evan, and she loves you very much.”
“Fine. But I refuse to allow her to interfere in our lives. If she doesn’t understand that now, she will when I finish talking to her.”
“Evan, please! She did nothing more than open my eyes to a few home truths.”
“What did she have to say this morning?”
“Well…she had some of the same questions as before.”
“Such as?” he demanded.
“You want us to be married soon, right?”
He nodded. “The sooner the better.” Bending his head, he kissed a corner of her mouth. “As I said earlier, we have three years of lost time to make up for. Keep that house with all those empty bedrooms in mind.”
Despite the ache in her heart, Mary Jo smiled. “Your mother told me that a small, private wedding might cause problems for your father.”
“Whose wedding is this?” Evan cried. “We’ll do this our way, sweetheart. Don’t worry about it.”
“It could be important, Evan,” she countered swiftly. “Your father can’t be associated with anything that…that could be misinterpreted.”
Evan laughed outright. “In other words, she prefers to throw a large, gala wedding with a cast of thousands? That’s ridiculous.”
“I…think she might be right.”
“That’s the kind of wedding you want?” Evan asked, his eyes revealing his disbelief.
“No. It isn’t what I want at all. But on the other hand, I wouldn’t want to do anything to hurt your father.”
“Trust me, sweetheart, you won’t.” He gave her an affectionate squeeze. “Now you listen. We’re going to be married and we’ll have the kind of wedding we want, and Mother won’t have any choice but to accept it.”
“But, Evan, what if our rushed wedding did cause speculation?”
“What if it did? Do you think I care? Or my father, either, for that matter? My mother is often guilty of making mountains out of molehills. She loves to worry. In this day and age, it’s ridiculous to stew about such things.”
“But—”
He silenced her with a kiss thorough enough to leave her feeling certain anything was possible. “I love you, Mary Jo. If it was up to me, we’d take the next plane to Las Vegas and be married this evening.”
“People might gossip.” She managed to dredge up one last argument.
“Good. The more my name’s in circulation, the better.”
Mary Jo’s spirits had lightened considerably. She so desperately wanted to believe him she didn’t stop to question what he was saying.
“It’s settled, then. We’ll be married as soon as we can make the arrangements. Mom can make all the fuss she wants, but it isn’t going to do her any good.”
“I…There are some other things we need to talk over first.”
“There are?” He sounded exasperated.
She leaned against the pier, knotting and unknotting her hands. “You’re excited about running for city council, aren’t you?”
“Yes,” he admitted readily. “This is something I want, and I’m willing to work for it. I wouldn’t run for office if I wasn’t convinced I could make some positive changes. This is exactly the right way for me to enter politics, especially while Dad’s in the Senate.”
She turned to study him. “What if I asked you not to run?”
Evan took several moments to mull over her words. “Why would you do that?”
“What if I did?” she asked again. “What would you do then?”
“First, I’d need to know exactly what you objected to.”
“What if I reminded you I wasn’t comfortable in the spotlight? Which, I might add, was something we discussed just yesterday. I’m not the kind of person who’s comfortable living my life in a fishbowl.”
“It wouldn’t be like that,” he protested.
Her smile was sad. Evan didn’t understand. He’d grown up accustomed to having people interested in his personal life. Even now, his dating habits often enough provided speculation for the society pages.
“It would be like that, Evan. Don’t kid yourself.”
“Then you’ll adjust,” he said with supreme confidence.
“I’ll adjust,” she repeated slowly. “What if I don’t? Then what happens? I could be an embarrassment to you. My family might be as well. Let me give you an example. Just recently, Jack and Rich were so upset over this investment problem my father’s having that they were ready to go to Adison’s office and punch him out. If we hadn’t stopped them, they’d have been thrown in jail. The press would have a field day with that
.”
“You’re overreacting.”
“Maybe,” she agreed grudgingly, then added with emphasis, “but I don’t think so. I told you before how I feel about this. You didn’t believe me, did you? You seem to think a pat on the head and a few reassurances are all I need. You’ve discounted everything I’ve said to you.”
“Mary Jo, please—”
“In case you haven’t noticed, I—I have this terrible habit of blushing whenever I’m the center of attention. I’m not the kind of woman your mother is. She enjoys the spotlight, loves arranging social events. She has a gift for making everyone feel comfortable and welcome. I can’t do that, Evan. I’d be miserable.”
Evan said nothing, but his mouth tightened.
“You may think I’m being selfish and uncaring, but that isn’t true. I’m just not the right woman for you.”
“Because my mother said so.”
“No, because of who and what I am.”
Evan sighed heavily. “I can see that you’ve already got this all worked out.”
“Another thing. I’m a good teacher and I enjoy my job. I’d want to continue with my kindergarten class after we were married.”
Evan took several steps away from her and rubbed his hand along the back of his neck. “Then there’s nothing left for me to say, is there? I’ll talk to Damian and explain that everything’s off. I won’t run for city council, not if it makes you that uncomfortable.”
“Oh, Evan.” She was on the verge of tears. This was exactly what she’d feared. Exactly what she didn’t want. “Don’t you see?” she pleaded, swallowing back a sob. “I can’t marry you knowing I’m holding you back from your dreams. You may love me now, but in time you’d grow to resent me, and it would ruin our marriage.”
“You’re more important to me than any political office,” Evan said sharply. “You’re right, Mary Jo, you did tell me how you felt about getting involved in politics, and I did discount what you said. I grew up in a family that was often in the limelight. This whole thing is old hat to me. I was wrong not to have considered your feelings.”